Technical Lead – Software Engineering (Contract, Outside IR35)

Location: Skelmersdale, hybrid (2 days/week onsite, reducing over time)

Contract: Initial 3 months, likely extension | Outside IR35

Rate: Competitive, DOE 

Start: August 2026

Our client is bringing ecommerce and DevOps capability in-house and needs a hands-on Technical Lead to take the technical reins. This is a solo contractor engagement with no formal line management, but you'll be the working technical authority for a team of four (1 infrastructure engineer, 3 Java software engineers) and the key point of governance as external delivery support transitions in-house.

You'll be:

• Hands-on across a TypeScript/Node.js commerce platform and a production-scale Java codebase
• Owning AWS cloud infrastructure (EC2/Node-based; Azure also fine)
• Directing and coordinating a small team without formal line management
• Supporting DevOps and integration capability moving in-house
• Second-line technical escalation during a defined cover period

Essential

• Proven experience as a Technical Lead, Lead Engineer or Principal Engineer in a modern software-engineering environment
• Demonstrable record of owning and improving production platforms — including availability, performance and incident management
• Experience leading engineers through technical mentoring, code reviews, architecture decisions and delivery
• Experience providing technical governance, direction and challenge to external development partners
• Active, hands-on experience working in Java codebases at production scale
• Expert-level TypeScript, JavaScript and Node.js; experience building scalable, production-grade applications
• Strong GraphQL, REST API and PostgreSQL skills; Git-based source control and branching strategies
• Strong AWS experience: designing, securing, deploying and operating production cloud environments
• Docker, CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform exposure useful) and modern DevOps practices
• Experience designing and supporting enterprise integrations, APIs and middleware platforms; Boomi or MuleSoft experience useful
• Sound understanding of security-by-design, secrets management, access control and vulnerability management
• Excellent written and verbal communication: able to explain complex technical topics to non-technical stakeholders
• Comfortable explaining and owning AI-assisted code output, not just using it

Desirable

• Experience with Vendure or a comparable open-source commerce platform (e.g. Magento)
• Experience with a modern React-based frontend framework, ideally Next.js
• Experience with Python, Redis, Payload CMS, Kubernetes or Terraform
• Experience with Akamai, Linode or hybrid-cloud environments
• Experience with product-catalogue platforms, PIM, search services or ERP integrations
• Experience contributing to or maintaining open-source software
• AWS certification (Solutions Architect – Associate or above) or equivalent
• Experience within B2B commerce, manufacturing or industrial distribution
• Familiarity with DORA metrics and engineering effectiveness frameworks
• Experience with AI-assisted development tooling (GitHub Copilot, Cursor or equivalent)